November 13, 2012

Dear Sir / Madam, Diwali is one of the biggest festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or 'Festival of lights'. Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house. They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. The festival od Diwali is never complete without exchange of gifts. People present diwali gifts to all near and dear ones. In Odisha Deepavali is celebrated with great joy. Rows of oil lamps, candles adorn the thresholds of all houses. Firecrackers are burst, sweetmeals are relished and distributed. Some people also worship family goddess. Tarpanam is done in the morning of deepavali. All the members of the household gather together just after dusk. A rangoli(Muruja) of a sailboat is made on the ground. The boat has seven chambers in north,ten chamber in east,and twelve chamber in south.the east chamber are meant for gods.north chamber for seer or Rishi and south chambers for manes and forefathers. Over the drawing of each different chamber several items are kept - cotton, mustard, salt, asparagus root, turmeric,sweets,cakes and a wild creeper. Over the central chamber are the offerings meant for [prasad]. Perched over the prasad is a jute stem with a cloth wick tied around the edge. It is lit at the beginning of the puja. All members of the family hold a bundle of jute stems in their hands, Lighting their respective bundles from the flame on the rangoli, they raise them skywards fo their forefathers chanting: Badabadua ho andhaara e asa Aluaa e Jaao Baaisi pahacha e Gadagadau thaao (meaning-oh our ancestors,seers and gods you came on the dark night of Mahalaya,and now it is time for you to depart for heaven,so we are showing light,may you attain peace in abode of Jagannatha)

Beside the rangoli, a mortar and pestle and a plough are also kept and worshiped. After the puja and offerings, the family celebrates Diwali festival by bursting firecrackers. As in other regions, most people prefer to celebrate it in their own homes, though family gatherings are also common. For Diwali houses are brightly lit, with the doors and windows kept open as Lakshmi is supposed to visit every home, and you can't afford to leave it dark and abandoned. Various kinds of Pithas are prepared and given to the deities and forefathers, and enjoyed with family and friends. The ritual of Kali Puja is a famous affair in puri, Bhadrak, Rourkela, Cuttack &Jajpur area.

Like last few years, Sambad is once again planning a special colour section on the Diwali festival. This section will appear on the day of Diwali i.e.13 November,2012. The section will be of four pages, all colours and will consist of pictures, articles and some unknown facts of Diwali and the history of the festival. To make it a collectors issue our editorial team has drawn out plans to present various less know facts about Diwali Culture in the proposed feature. Besides this we will be carrying messages from various personalities from various fields for the people of Orissa.The Page will be distributed along with the main section of Sambad All editions. We are confident that the Sambad readers will not miss out this Issue and your participation in this special supplement will certainly give a lot of mileage to your advertising messages. Our tariff for this Special Feature will be Rs. 450/- per sq. cm. for Colour advertisement. We are hopeful that we will have your participation. Thanking you Sincerely yours

Arnab Mitra Sambad, Kolkata 9831038362